A Question of Motive
by Lady Emerald Star
Summary: A frustrated Temari tries to figure out why Shikamaru is determined for her to hang out with Ino. Set while Temari & Shikamaru are working together for the Chunin exams. Part 1 of 2!


Temari sighed, and then scowled. She couldn't believe she had just sighed. She was turning into one of those girls that waited around for a guy and bemoaned their fate when he didn't show up or took too long. It was all Shikamaru's fault.

Although technically, if you asked her why she had volunteered as the Suna representative to work with Konoha for the Chuunin exams, none of her reasons involved Shikamaru. When Gaara had first mentioned the position Temari had come up with a full list of logical reasons why she should be the one to go. She was familiar with Konoha; she would work better with a female in power than some of the older Suna shinobi; and she was the best at writing reports, which would be critical since she would often be staying in Konoha for weeks at a time and keeping Gaara updated by mailed reports. Gaara had listened without interruption to her reasoning and as soon as she stopped talking agreed she should go. Kankurou remained silent initially, but followed her out of the room.

"That was a lot more bullshit than I'm used to hearing from you," he said as they walked away from Gaara's office.

Temari continued looking straight ahead. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh those reasons," Kankurou laughed. "You had a whole list prepared, didn't you? I guess you heard the rumors ahead of time about this position. Funny how you never mentioned your friendships within the village, or a certain crybaby you like to talk about."

This time Temari turned to meet Kankurou's assessing gaze. "I don't see how that makes a difference, idiot. Don't all three of us have friends in Konoha? You know I'm still much better suited to handle the responsibilities than you." Without giving him time to respond she hurried off.

It had come as a huge surprise when Temari arrived in Konoha and found out she would be working with Shikamaru. She had planned several possible scenarios in her head for her time in Konoha, but she had dismissed the possibility that Shikamaru would be in her counterpoint position. Of course she had thought of it; after all a clever strategist considered EVERY alternative, no matter how likely, but she had never come up with a reasonable cause for Shikamaru to be working on the Chuunin exams. Tsunade surely wouldn't give such an important assignment to the lazy head, and there was no way he would ever volunteer for extra duties.

No matter how the situation had come about, Temari was pleased with the results. She had anticipated working with an unknown shinobi. She had assumed she would have to use her spare hours to spend time with Shikamaru. Now she would get the chance to see him every day. She couldn't have planned it better!

Temari had initially planned to find Shikamaru and challenge him to a spar. For one thing she really wanted the chance to prove she could best him. She had underestimated him during the exams. It would never happen again. She would also use the opportunity to then make Shikamaru, as the loser, take her for dinner. From there she would lay the groundwork for them to continue to see each other while she was in Konoha. She had no expectations, she didn't have any wishy-washy thoughts that Shikamaru had secretly been pining for her and this would start the rest of their life together, but she enjoyed his company. She wanted the chance to spend more time with him. She wouldn't overlook any opportunity; no matter how short the time they would have together.

When Temari had realized this, she had a long debate with herself. Temari believed firmly in honesty. She was brutally honest with not only everyone around her, but herself as well. Ignoring the truth could be disastrous for a ninja, even if the truth was unpleasant. During her short life she had realized and accepted many hard truths: she was afraid of her youngest brother, she didn't respect her father and sometimes hated him, and she wasn't an unbeatable strategist. But once she accepted the truth, she could work past it.

So now, she struggled to decide if her feelings for Shikamaru, which she couldn't quite quantify, made her as desperate as those people in the fanclubs. She hoped not. They were practically stalkers. But she understood now how they felt. Whenever someone mentioned Konoha in her presence she instantly took note and memorized anything they said, in case it gave her more information on Shikamaru. That was how she had heard the rumors about sending someone to Konoha to work on the chuunin exams before Gaara mentioned it officially. Was it pathetic, or was it planning ahead? As a ninja she had been taught to gather information and make a plan for proceeding. She chose to decide that she was just behaving like a true ninja.

Which, unfortunately, did nothing at the moment to alleviate her annoyance.

Shikamaru and Temari had fallen into a comfortable pattern during the day while working. Their rapport remained from previous meetings, and while sometimes she bemoaned his laziness, they actually accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time. They had similar thinking styles which made it easy to collaborate.

The problem was after work.

"Oy, lazy." Temari said near the end of the day.

Shikamaru sighed, "Yes, Woman?"

"I heard team 8 just came back from a mission, and Kiba was throwing some sort of party." Temari continued finishing up her report as she spoke.

Shikamaru however paused to give her a confused look. "I think I might have heard Chouji mention that."

Temari stopped to glower at him. "Well? Don't you know any details?"

"Nah, I figure Chouji will grab me when it's time to go. Are you going?"

"I was thinking about it. It would help if I knew when it was."

Shikamaru nodded in agreement. "You should talk to Ino, she always knows that kind of information." He turned back to his own work, apparently thinking the conversation was over.

Temari huffed. She opened her mouth to argue but snapped it shut again knowing it was pointless. A strategist had to recognize a lost cause, and the fact was that Shikamaru had just pushed her off on Ino **again** for the 6th time that week.

Initially Shikamaru had seemed happy to spend time with her. He took her around for meals and to shops, showing her the lay of the land as it were. He had even conceded to train together a few times. Temari liked to think they had fun together. Shikamaru seemed content. Not outright happy, but that wasn't his way. They were comfortable. It was everything she wanted.

And then he started foisting her off on Ino every other minute.

Any time she tried to plan for them to hang out with the group, he'd direct her to Ino for details. If she casually suggested a new shop they should explore together, he said Ino would be the better companion. Earlier he had tried to talk her into training with Ino, of all things! Ino, training? Temari knew people changed, but really had the blond ditz suddenly had a complete about face personality wise, because why else would she have any interest in training?

So far Temari had avoided all of Shikamaru's attempts to push her into Ino's company, but apparently that was the only company she was going to get now.

Instead of catching a meal together at the end of the day as they usually did, Shikamaru claimed he had to go home for dinner with his family, since his dad just got back to Konoha from a mission. Temari would have been fine with this, except for Shikamaru's parting words, "Sorry, Temari, I know it sucks to eat alone. Why don't you see if Ino wants to go with you? She said something the other day about wanting to meet you for dinner sometime." He shuffled around, looking uncomfortable as Temari froze. "That way you could ask her about Kiba's party too."

"Sure," Temari studied the floor, trying to hide the decidedly angry squint to her eyes, "I'll stop by and see if she wants to go. Later, Lazy."

She was extremely proud of the fact that she walked off without stomping, or giving into the temptation to turn around and throw her fan at Shikamaru's head. That would flatten him for sure. There was a difference between being honest, and being diplomatic. Squishing your partner was not diplomatic. Pretending to believe his bullshit was the more appropriate response until such a time as you had direct proof to challenge said bullshit, and then beat him to a pulp.

It wasn't that Temari expected Shikamaru to always have time for her. Hell, she wasn't even sure she wanted to see him constantly. As comfortable as their time together was, she needed her own space. But his rationalizations for pushing her onto Ino were just getting more and more ridiculous. Ino wanted them to do dinner? The girl barely ate! Why would she care to go to dinner with Temari! Shikarmaru's father was just back from a mission, but not Ino's? It seemed unlikely.

Temari was ashamed to realize she felt abandoned. Maybe Shikamaru had just been willing to hang out with her when she first got to Konoha because she was new there? It certainly seemed like his expectations had changed. But why? Because she was familiar with the area and the people now?

Or did it have something to do with Ino?

Temari abruptly stopped walking as a new thought emerged. She felt someone bump into her as she suddenly blocked walking traffic, but she ignored them. Was it possible that Shikamaru wanted her and Ino to be friends not because of a change in his friendship with her, but because of a change in his friendship with Ino? As teammates they had always been close, but were they now something more?

This required reconnaissance, which is why within a few minutes Temari found herself knocking on Ino's door. "The lazy head said you wanted to do dinner. Let's go," she practically snarled. When Ino gaped at her momentarily Temari realized she might have wanted to soften her tone, but there was only so much diplomacy she could do in one day. Before she could have too many regrets Ino turned around.

"I'll be out for awhile," Ino called as she grabbed her purse. She shut the door before pushing Temari in front of her onto the path. "Let's go! I just heard about a great place I'd thought you'd like based on what Shikamaru's said. They have a whole low calorie menu too which will be perfect for me. You probably heard I'm on a diet again. I was thinking maybe we could train together sometime? Shikamaru said you're pretty intense. I mean I knew that already just from seeing you in action, but that would have to be a great incentive to get me going! And nothing burns off the pounds like diet and exercise at the same time."

Temari was frankly flabbergasted as Ino pulled her along, chatting happily the whole time. She couldn't help but notice the frequent references to Shikamaru peppering the peppy blond's chatter. Nor could she ignore the way Ino seemed to genuinely be trying to connect with her.

Sure, she had met Ino before. They had run into each other frequently when Temari was with Shikamaru. However, they certainly had never spoken much or had any sort of interaction that would explain Ino's behavior now. She had heard of Ino's gossiping trends, but no one in the village had ever implied that Ino was overly friendly without a purpose. What was the purpose?

Temari tried to give very short, carefully worded answers as Ino led the way to dinner. Before giving away any information she wanted to understand what she was dealing with. She didn't have a chance to formulate a theory before she was distracted.

They were in the midst of several restaurants, and Temari spotted one that she frequented with Shikamaru. They had gone there every Monday when Temari was in Konoha. The last time Temari had bet Shikamaru he couldn't eat even 2 bites of her meal, which was fairly spicy. She paused in the road now remembering how he had scoffed, saying any one with any semblance of intelligence knew how to cool their mouth after eating spicy food. Then of course he almost choked once he took a bite and realized exactly how hot she liked it. Temari smiled as she remembered Shikamaru's expression.

"Oh, isn't that one of your favorites?" Ino asked.

Temari whirled, face aflame. She couldn't believe she had been completely distracted by thoughts of Shikamaru while she was trying to suss out Ino's intentions. What kind of ninja was she?

Ino had her head cocked to the side, studying her. "We can go there if you want. It's okay. I just assumed you're there all the time. You might want to try something new for a change."

"It's been…" Temari paused. When was the last time Shikamaru had taken her there? With a flash of pain she realized it was longer than she thought. "It's been awhile, but I've had enough of it. Let's go to your new place."

There was no way she could concentrate on talking to Ino while remembering all the times her and Shikamaru had been there. Temari could barely focus now, almost consumed by the realization that she really had been abandoned. Why had it taken her so long to realize Shikamaru was slowing fading away from her? She hardly registered as Ino directed her into the restaurant and to a chair with a surprising gentleness. Once they were sitting though, there was no escape. She squirmed as she felt Ino studying her over the menu. For some reason the blond's interest in her felt smothering now. She was Temari no Sabaku though, and she could still twist this incredibly weird dinner to her use.

Waiting until after their orders had been collected, Temari ignored Ino until what felt like the proper moment then took control of the conversation.

"So," she drawled, "you wanted to talk to me?"

"Not about anything specific." Ino shrugged. "I figured you are always hanging out with the boys though and might need some girl time. Boys are well and good, but sometimes it needs to be just us girls, you know? Do you have a lot of girl friends in Suna?"

"Not really." Temari opened her mouth to shift the focus back on Ino, but Ino interrupted her.

"I figured as much. Shikamaru says you shop like a guy."

Temari couldn't help it. She laughed. "What does that even mean? Shopping like a guy?"

"Oh you know," Ino sounded as serious as if she was explaining what constituted a fatal wound. "You march in, find what you want, and buy it."

"Isn't that the point of shopping? To buy what you're looking for?"

Ino gasped. "No!" She shook her head, violently throwing her long ponytail around the booth. "The point of shopping is to **shop**. To look at things you don't need. To try things on you'd never even consider. To be surprised when that perfect outfit comes together, not as you visualized it maybe, but you know it was meant for you. You wear it like you own it, and not in the buying sense of the word."

Temari really wanted to laugh again. The idea of shopping being such a convoluted process was too amusing to want to do anything other than laugh. But she sensed that Ino considered this a serious topic.

Ino meanwhile was studying her intensely. "You really don't hang out with girls much, do you?"

"Well, no." Temari shrugged. "It was just me and Kankurou for a long time. Most people in the village thought it was safer to stay away from our family." She couldn't help but notice Ino's eyes had softened. Temari scowled. "Not that there's anything wrong with the way I shop."

"Don't you ever want some time to just be girly?"

Temari shifted. This was not how she expected the conversation to go. At all. "Are you saying you think I'm manly?"

"Not really," Ino looked amused. "A little rough maybe. But I definitely wouldn't call you a girly girl."

"I don't see the advantage of being a girly girl," Temari said.

"See that's the other problem. Every day life is not a battle. You don't have to be constantly planning your moves and thinking of what gives you an advantage." Ino sighed. "This has to be why you and Shikamaru get along so well. He's the same way."

Temari paused, but before she could reply the waiter returned with their food. Exchanging glances with Ino, they nodded for a momentary truce on the conversation in order to eat. Temari wasn't surprised to see that Ino was really only picking at her food, lost in thought.

As Temari finished up, Ino cleared her throat. "Let me start again. I'm not criticizing you. I mean I wish I could be half as confident as you are. I just think you don't have enough fun."

Temari blinked. "What makes you think I don't have fun? Just because I don't shop the way you do? Ino, you have to admit that if we have different personalities, we probably find different things fun."

"True, but have you tried things my way?"

Temari conceded that she had not.

Ino smiled, and Temari again suspected there was more going on here than just Ino wanted her to 'have fun.'

They paid and left the restaurant, with Ino happily chattering about nonsense yet again. Temari had decided to try and use Ino's rambling to get clued in to her motivations, but there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what she discussed. It wasn't until they got to where they needed to head to different areas of the village that Ino got to the point.

"Well, I need to head home," Ino said, "but were you going to go to Kiba's party tomorrow?"

"Ah, it's tomorrow? Lazy Head didn't know any details. Sure, I'm going over."

Ino smirked. "Great! This is the perfect chance for you to try things my way. I'll meet you in the afternoon, and we'll go shopping before the party."

Temari studied Ino carefully before nodding. She certainly didn't have to agree to any of Ino's harebrained schemes, but she clearly wasn't cracking this nut tonight. Tomorrow would provide a chance for more reconnaissance. Shopping wouldn't kill her, and Ino would feel comfortable. Comfortable people were more likely to accidentally drop important details. With this thought in mind, Temari gave Ino a particularly toothy smile and walked off with a backwards wave.

She was more convinced than ever that something was going on between Ino and Shikamaru. The pointed questions, the frequent mentions, and even Ino's persistence in getting Temari to hang out just didn't make sense otherwise.

It would be much easier to get information from Ino than Shikamaru. Ino was horrible at keeping secrets, for one, and would be far less aware of any manipulation.

Sure, Temari's attempts to direct the conversation tonight hadn't worked out, but she had been caught off guard. Tomorrow she would be better prepared.

Working with Shikamaru the next day was unexpectedly hard though. Temari couldn't stop herself from frequently studying him. When had he gotten together with Ino? When exactly had his behavior towards her changed? She found it hard to pinpoint, and was unsettled that he would leave her in the dark about something so important. But then it made more sense why he'd be abandoning her. A man with a girlfriend didn't need to hang out with another random girl all the time. Yet it hurt to think their friendship was so unimportant to him.

Temari was so distracted by her thoughts that she almost missed Shikamaru asking about her about dinner with Ino. She certainly noticed the smug look on his face though when she replied that it was "nice." She ignored Shikamaru for the rest of the day. Apparently Ino was the only thing he wanted to talk about, and she didn't feel the need to indulge him.

She also suspected she would need a lot of mental prepping in order to handle the shopping trip that afternoon.

* * *

Emerald: So I swore never to again do a chapter story because I take FOREVER in between posts, but this was getting long (for me) and if I don't post the first part I'm afraid I'll never be motivated to finish.

Duo: You know it's not your motivation that's in question… it's more a discipline problem. Or a distraction problem. Or something.

Legolas: Maybe a mood problem? You've been moody recently.

Emerald: I hate you both. It probably doesn't help that I'm now addicted to blogging… although I wrote a post about fanfiction. That's kinda the same thing as writing fanfiction? Right?

Duo: Uh no? Not at all.

Emerald: Shuddup! So here I am promising on the life of my favorite muse that I WILL finish this story at some point.

Legolas: Is that me or him?

(and in case any crazy people are intrigued by the idea of me blogging, google "neek confessional" or try: neekconfessions . blogspot .com - without the spaces, obviously)


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